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1 For a detailed account of the historical development of the Kingdom of Upper Burgundy, cf. R. Poup (...)

1The Kingdom of Upper Burgundy, also called Transjurane Burgundy and once part of the Middle Kingdom, belongs to the first post-Carolingian kingdoms that came into existence at the end of the ninth century. In the year 888, Charles the Fat (876-888), under whose reign all Carolingian territories had been reunited for the last time, died and Rudolph I (888-912), a member of the House of Welf and son of Conrad II the Younger (860/870), became king of Upper Burgundy. After the unification with the Kingdom of Lower Burgundy in the 940s, the realm became known as the Kingdom of Burgundy and remained as such until 10321.

2This article will investigate the beginnings of the Kingdom of Upper Burgundy and its ruling dynasty, the Rudolphians. For this analysis, it seems worthwhile to consider the perspective of religion and to adopt Max Weber’s approach of three types of legitimization of social authority2. Similar to other ruling dynasties in the Early Middle Ages, the reign of the Rudolphians was inseparably connected to the monasteries, the bishops and the clergy in Upper Burgundy3. A comprehensive analysis of this conjunction would be beyond the scope of this article, which mainly focuses on the rite of coronation of Rudolph I, who played a pivotal role as first Rudolphian king4. At the beginning, our study sheds some light on the ancestry of Rudolph I and his family. It will then focus on providing an analysis of the historiographical sources reporting on Rudolph’s coronation, with particular emphasis on the chronicle of Regino of Prüm and the Annales Vedastini. Finally, by contrasting these sources, it will reassess the process of how Rudolph became king of Upper Burgundy.

3As far as the beginnings of the Kingdom of Upper Burgundy are concerned, we should first take note of Rudolph’s Welf ancestors5. Even if he himself was not directly coming from a Carolingian male-line, he had some family ties to the Carolingians : two sisters of his grandfather Conrad I the Elder († after 862), count of Auxerre, namely Judith († 843), who was the second wife of Louis the Pious (814-840), and Hemma († 876), who was the wife of Louis the German (843-876), were married to Carolingian kings6. Together with his brother Hugh the Abbot († 886)7, Rudolph’s father, Conrad II the Younger, changed sides from Eastern Frankish to Western Frankish and, thereupon, after the year 860 joined the Lotharingian party, thus supporting Lothar II (855-869), who had ceded the area of Transjurane Burgundy to his brother Louis II of Italy (840-875) in 859. Since Hucbert († 864), a brother of Lothar’s wife Teutberga († after 869), had de facto control over Transjurane Burgundy as the lay-abbot of Saint-Maurice d’Agaune, we may assume that Conrad was entrusted with the Transjurane area in order to remove Hucbert8. Conrad probably defeated him in 864 in a battle near Orbe9 and became abbot of Saint-Maurice himself, which was a religious, geographical, and political centre of power in the Transjurane area at that time10. Thus, it is not surprising that Conrad’s son Rudolph I issued his first surviving charter in 878 as humilis comes nec non et monasterii sancti Mauricii Agaunensis abba11. Additionally, Rudolph is referred to as marchio in the period before his coronation in 88812.

4Due to the lack of a historiographical tradition of its own, the body of source material on the Kingdom of Upper Burgundy is unfortunately rather limited13, which is also the case with the coronation of Rudolph I. By contrast, the imperial coronation of Berengar I (888-924), for example, is reported in great detail by the Gesta Berengarii14. Thus, we can only presume that Rudolph’s coronation took place after the death of Charles the Fat, on January 13th, 888 and before January 28th, 88815. Neither do we know exactly how Rudolph became king of Upper Burgundy, since the sources reporting on it are narrative, inconsistent, and, therefore, not very reliable. In addition, some of these historiographical sources, such as the Annales Lausannenses16 and the Annales Anglo-Saxonici17, do not offer much in the way of information, something not unusual for this kind of source material18. While the Annales Lausannenses were mainly written late in the High Middle Ages19, this is not the case with the Gesta Berengarii, which add in their glosses Hic[Rodulfus]noviter rex a Burgundionibus constitutus erat20, and the Annales Fuldenses, which note that Ruodulfus vero filius Chuonradi superiorem Burgundiam apud se statuit regaliter retenere21. Furthermore, it is important to note that neither the Gesta Berengarii, which, in fact, mention Upper Burgundy solely in this passage22, nor the Annales Fuldenses, which, in addition to the events of the year 888, record also those of the year 89423, focus on the events in Upper Burgundy.

5By contrast, the chronicle of Regino of Prüm provides unique details, although, similar to the Annales Fuldenses, it also reports on Upper Burgundy only in the context of interactions with the Eastern Frankish Kingdom24. It relates for the year 888 that Rudolph usurped the area of Upper Burgundy, assembled magnates and sacerdotes in Saint-Maurice d’Agaune, crowned himself and had himself called king25. It continues on reporting the conflict that took place between Rudolph and Arnulf of Carinthia († 899), respectively his son Zwentibold († 900)26. However, it is necessary to pose one central question in this context : how reliable is the chronicle of Regino in this affair ? It is clear from the entirety of the report on the year 888, which is about twice as long as the one given by the Annales Fuldenses, and, thus, provides additional information, that the author disapproves of the disintegration of the Carolingian realm and the emergence of non-Carolingian kingdoms as successors27. Besides, Rudolph, having Welf ancestors28 and being an opponent of Arnulf of Carinthia, is not presented in a favourable light throughout the whole chronicle, which is not unbiased towards Lotharingian affairs29. It should also be mentioned that, in contrast to the report given by the Annales Fuldenses, Regino, erroneously or not, states that Rudolph already withdrew in the Jura Mountains during the year 88830. In addition, it has been pointed out by Carlrichard Brühl that the chronicle is quite often inaccurate in describing coronations31. All in all, this presumable self-coronation of Rudolph in Saint-Maurice, where he was lay-abbot like his father before him32 and where thus no other higher ranked ecclesiastical person had its see33, should be interpreted with caution, particularly because yet another detailed account of the coronation of Rudolph has survived34.

6Reporting on the events of the year 888, the Annales Vedastini state that magnates from Upper Burgundy, having convened in Toul, requested the bishop of Toul, Arnald, to consecrate Rudolph, a task the bishop carried out35. The episcopal see of Toul, which belonged to the former Middle Kingdom36, must have been of geostrategic importance to Rudolph, who at that time probably sought to enlarge his territory, thereby competing with the King of East Francia37 and possibly also with Guy of Spoleto († 894)38. The question whether the bishop of Toul’s39 alleged partiality for Rudolph must be considered within the context of the confiscation of goods and the later recompense by Arnulf of Carinthia cannot be clearly traced40. Nonetheless, we may assume that Arnald strove to persevere against the influential neighbouring diocese of Metz, since Metz, similar to Compiègne, had already gained prominence as place for the coronation of the kings of West Francia, in contrast to Toul or even Saint-Maurice d’Agaune41.

7At first sight, one might interpret the report given by the Annales Vedastini as an ecclesiastical coronation or even as if Rudolph were anointed by Arnald of Toul, which seems to contradict the presumable self-coronation described by the chronicle of Regino. Yet, if we attempt to evaluate the degree of reliability of this report, we have to take into account that, first and foremost, the Annales Vedastini, written in the abbey of Saint Vaast, record Western Frankish affairs and, only marginally, address events in other regions like Italy or East Francia42. For instance, it is said that Charles the Fat was strangled, whereas the chronicle of Regino and the Annales Fuldenses note down a good death of the former emperor43. This also applies to Upper Burgundy, which is mentioned by the Annales Vedastini solely in this passage on the year 888 in the context of the coronation of Rudolph in Toul. This mention is embodied as a side note, after a remark on a new bishop in the diocese of Cambrai/Arras, in between the account of the coronation of Guy of Spoleto in Langres and that of his final return to Italy44. All in all, the report on the events after the death of Charles the Fat in the Annales Vedastini evidently focuses on the disputed succession in West Francia and should not be read as a reliable source for other parts of the disintegrated Carolingian Empire.

8Moreover, analysing the two text passages on the coronation of Rudolph in the Annales Vedastini and in the chronicle of Regino more closely and comparing them with the aforementioned evidence reveals similarities when it comes to the terms and expressions used : in both texts, the rather unusual epithet nepos Hugonis abbatis is added to Rudolph’s name. In addition to that, Regino uses the much more common term filius Cuonradi, a designation also used by the Annales Fuldenses, which do not title Rudolph as rex45. Besides, both texts avoid using the term « Burgundia » or « superior Burgundia » for Upper Burgundy, as do the Annales Fuldenses, but instead label it geographically by the terms « Iurus », « Alpes », and « Alpes Penninae », which may be due to a Western Frankish tradition46. Although these textual parallels do not suffice as evidence, they might be seen as hints that Regino47 and the Annales Vedastini48 might have had a common source they used for writing about the coronation of Rudolph. In support of this argument, the two sources should be examined as a whole and compared in detail. Such a detailed comparative examination, however, cannot be accomplished within the scope of this article.

9Next, it is necessary to examine what benedici in regem facere/petere means in the Annales Vedastini. All in all, it is used in four text passages reporting on royal coronations :1. Louis III and his brother Carlomann II are crowned kings of Western Francia in 87949.2. Odo is crowned king of Western Francia in 88850.3. Rudolph I is crowned king of Upper Burgundy in 88851.4. Zwentibold is crowned king of Lotharingia in 89552.

10Since the ecclesiastical ritual of coronation existed in the Western Frankish Kingdom as a continuous tradition ever since the anointing of Charles the Bald in 84853 and is documented by ordines, there is no doubt that the phrase benedici in regem facere could mean that Louis, Carlomann and Odo were consecrated kings54. However, Martin Lintzel and Walter Mohr have already suggested that the Annales Vedastini were influenced by this Western Frankish tradition and use the phrase for designating every rite of coronation, whether ecclesiastical or not55. As a direct parallel to the report on the coronation of Rudolph, neither the chronicle of Regino56 nor the Annales Fuldenses57 mention that Zwentibold was consecrated or anointed58. Furthermore, it would have been the only anointing of an Eastern Frankish king in the ninth century. Franz-Reiner Erkens attempts to explain this purported exception by asserting the existence of a Lotharingian tradition that was based on the consecration of Charles the Bald in Metz in 869 and found its continuation in the anointing of Rudolph in Toul in 88859. As there is no other evidence than the Annales Vedastini, this does not seem convincing to me60. Thus, I claim that the phrase benedici in regem facere in the context of the coronations of Zwentibold and Rudolph does not inevitably imply that an anointing took place, but must be understood as a phrase designating a ritual of enthronement instead.

11In the light of all these arguments, neither an anointing nor a self-coronation of Rudolph can be proven beyond doubt. Previous studies have often simply combined the two main sources. Instead, the differences in the accounts of the coronation of Rudolph between the chronicle of Regino, where Rudolph, son of Conrad and nephew of Hugh the Abbot, is said to have usurped Upper Burgundy, called together magnates and bishops – not mentioned by name – in Saint-Maurice d’Agaune and then crowned himself61, and the Annales Vedastini, where magnates of Upper Burgundy – not mentioned by name either – are said to have assembled in Toul and requested Rudolph, nephew of Hugh the Abbot, to be crowned by the bishop of Toul62, should be interpreted as being mainly caused by the divergent intentions and traditions on which these historiographical sources are based63. Therefore, I suggest that the coronation and presumable anointing of Rudolph have to be seen as one inseparable rite of enthronement, which might have consisted of secular and possibly also ecclesiastical elements64. As shown above, the lack of evidence does not allow us to draw any conclusions regarding the precise nature of the coronation of Rudolph. Nevertheless, it seems to me that, if there had been an ecclesiastical ritual of consecration and anointing following the Western Frankish tradition, some evidence of it should have survived.

12Neither can the place of the coronation of Rudolph be determined with ultimate certainty due to the diverging accounts presented by the sources, whereas the coronations of Conrad the Peaceful (937-993) and his son Rudolph III (993-1032) are documented to have taken place in Lausanne65. However, Saint-Maurice d’Agaune, situated at the very heart of the Rudolphians’ central territories and, what is perhaps even more important, the location at which Rudolph II (911/912-937), who succeeded his father Rudolph as king of Upper Burgundy, was probably crowned and buried, seems to be the most reasonable place for the coronation of the first Rudolphian king66. In addition, Rudolph is also likely to have been present in Toul at the beginning of the year 888 ; the conclusion that some sort of coronation may have taken place during that time thus cannot be entirely dismissed.

13To conclude, a lot of research has been devoted to support the thesis stating that these new kings – who, like Rudolph, came into power during the gradual disintegration of the Carolingian realm – were in urgent need of ecclesiastical legitimization, which they attempted to gain from an anointing67. In contrast to this thesis, recent scholarship argues that rulers’ transitions depended, above all, on the respective current power structure, and that legitimization was often only constructed afterwards by the implementation of ecclesiastical rituals or reports of a tendentious historiography68. As Janet Nelson argues, it is furthermore essential to realize that inauguration rituals and anointings are to be understood as interdependent processes between kings and magnates, who were represented by the anointer as an ecclesiastical person69. In the case of the Kingdom of Upper Burgundy, I thus challenge the thesis that Rudolph needed ecclesiastical legitimization in the form of anointing because, as lay-abbot of Saint-Maurice d’Agaune, which was to become the royal monastery of the Kingdom of Upper Burgundy, Rudolph did have a strong religious centre of his very own at his disposal, while simultaneously holding political power as well, as François Demotz has shown70. In the case of Odo, the first non-Carolingian king of West Francia, Bernd Schneidmüller judges the power structure in a similar way71. As far as all the other late and post-Carolingian kingdoms are concerned, I am not in a position to assess whether anointing as a Carolingian tradition of coronation was a suitable or even necessary instrument for establishing and stabilizing the rule of a non-Carolingian king, but I strongly plead for the question to be re-examined in a broader context.